Never Let Go
by Rookie-Bee
Summary: The Doctor can't tell if the rushing noise is in his head, or from the water pouring into the ship. A Doctor/Rose Titanic AU - written for a prompt on LJ


The Doctor can't tell if the rushing noise is in his head, or from the water pouring into the ship.

He grunts as a woman collides with him, having been shoved out of the way by a burly man attempting to get to the life boats. The Doctor doubts there are any left. They weren't even filling them to capacity at the time Rose had gotten on. And jumped off.

He pulls her behind him, shoes sloshing with every step. They head for the front of the ship, reason and science telling him it would be the last to sink. He knows it won't buy him much time, but he wants to put off being in the ice cold water as long as possible.

They reach the front and he pushes Rose in front of him, grabbing the rail and instructing her to do the same. The ship is getting more and more vertical by the second, and the cold of the rail stings his hands as he holds on tight. He scoots closer to Rose, moving one of his hands to the bit of rail on the other side of her so his arm supports her back.

"This is where we first met." She says, barely raising her voice enough for him to hear her.

"Rose?" He asks, shouting over the fearful voices and whimpers beside him. She looks up, gaze fearful, but steady. "If- when we make it through this… How long are you going to stay with me?"

"Forever." She answers without hesitation.

He breathes a sigh of relief, a pretty ridiculous thing to do while clinging to the rail of a sinking ship. They aren't out of the water yet (Figuratively. Literally, they were, but they'd be in it soon.), but Rose's answer gives him a future to hope for.

The Doctor was worried she'd go and find Mickey again, but he wasn't exactly the one she had left the life boat for, and he could tell she wasn't happy with him. Forever is even more than he had dared to hope for though. Dares. They still had to get out of this mess.

With a final, resounding crack, the ship splits in two. They're thrown against the rail as the front half bobs forward, disconnected as it now is to its sinking counterpart.

"We've got to jump!" He shouts, knowing the front half will follow.

She looks at him, terrified, but he can tell she trusts him. After a moment she nods, grabbing his hand and climbing over. His mind flashes back to the first time he saw her. Clinging to the same rail, blonde hair blowing around her face as she tried to muster up the courage to let go.

She has that courage now. Hand in his, she jumps, and they hit the water.

It's just like he remembers. No. Worse. Firey pain shoots through his body, and Rose's hand slips from his.

It feels like every cell in his body is dying, but he knows he's got to get back to her. His head breaks the surface of the water, blinking away the water and desperately searching the chaotic churning of waves around him for her. He spots her at last, but only for a second, as she is pulled underwater.

"ROSE!" He shouts, swimming towards her as fast as his leaden limbs will let him.

She comes up again, attempting to push off the man clinging to her like a cat, trying not to drown. But in doing so, he's drowning her.

The Doctor's normal pacifistic feelings go out the window as he punches the man in the face. He lets go, blood gushing from his nose. The man is managing to stay afloat, but his eyelids flicker closed for a second as he attempts to regain consciousness. The Doctor realizes that hitting him probably lessened the man's chances of survival, adding injury to the already-present chill of the water. He doesn't care.

"The boats will be back." He tells Rose, helping her swim away.

He can feel her shivering, and sees her teeth chattering uncontrollably. Hypothermia has set in. He sspots a flat shape atop a wave, and pulls her toward it. She follows, and when he eventually gets there, he can see it's a door. Aside from Rose, it feels like the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Now he just wants a boat.

He pushes her onto it. After balancing her weight, she reaches out to grab his hand. They try, but the door won't hold his weight.

So he slides off. She won't let go of his hand.

"W- We'll t-t-take turns, o-ok-kay?" She says.

He'd thought it was just the water from her hair running down her face, but he can tell she's crying by the hitch in her voice.

"Of course," he lies. "I'll tell you when I need to get on, okay?" She nods, hiccupping and squeezing his hand tighter.

They're there for ages. His vision's going dark, but he's paddling his legs, attempting to stay awake.

He's feeling a lot warmer now. That's not good. He's got a degree in medicine and he knows that's the second to last stage of hypothermia. The last being death.

He hopes Rose is cold.

He's almost sure she's unconscious, but as his vision blurs, he hears her speak.

"I- I _love you." _She says.

He can't think. It takes a lot of effort to put words together. He's dying.

"Quite right, too." He says. It's not what he would have said, but it comes out first. "And I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it…"

Her breathing hitches again, and he takes one last look at her beautiful face.

"Rose Tyler-"

Everything goes black.


End file.
